In the book Texas in Bloom, from the
Texas A&M University press based on photographs from "Texas Highways
Magazine", Lady Bird Johnson states that in spring she likes to look,
"upon the wonders of the Lord, and help, provided by the Texas Highway
Department. They made peace years ago. "

They did indeed make peace years ago. To
understand the present-day success and popularity of the wildflower program in
Texas, it is important to understand how this peace treaty developed in the
late 1920's and early 1930's.

After the Texas Highway Department was
organized in 1917, it was soon realized that highways were never built on
natural ground - it was either cut or fill. And in many cases, the first
vegetation to reappear on the disturbed land was wildflowers. This was regarded
as beneficial for erosion control and attractive in appearance, and thus, led
to the recognition of a beautification heritage in 1929.

This awareness proved to be the single most
important development in highway beautification in Texas. This awareness led to
the maintenance, preservation, and encouragement of natural landscapes along
highway rights-of-way when highway construction and auto transportation was
still in its infancy.

In 1932, the first landscape architect was
hired by the Department to make highway personnel, as well as the public, aware
of landscape needs. He in turn, instilled pride in, and convinced all those
concerned that landscape development along highways could be useful,
aesthetically pleasing, and above all, practical.

By 1934, plans to shape the future
beautification of Texas highways were being put into action. Directives were
issued to delay all mowing, except safety mowing, of the right-of-way until the
spring and early summer flowering season was over. Today, this policy is in its
60th year of practice and, in fact, has been expanded upon with a vegetative
management system. This will be covered in more detail later.

Another planned procedure which occurs during
maintenance and construction activities is the salvaging of topsoil, especially
in wildflower habitats. One of the first steps during such activities is to
remove a layer of topsoil to be stockpiled. Once the maintenance or
construction work nears completion, this topsoil, which contains the wildflower
seeds from previous seasons, is replaced over the area to provide future
wildflower stands.

Since wildflower seeds were not available
commercially by large quantities in the 1930's, plans were developed to gather
wildflower seeds from prominent wildflower areas after securing written
permission from landowners. This was accomplished by one of two methods. One by
cutting the flower area with a sickle mower after the peak blooming period and
before seeds had dropped. The mowed "flower hay" was then transported
to the desired location and simply scattered over the ground.

Two, where it was permissible, a more
successful method was to blade up a thin layer of topsoil containing the
wildflower seeds and then transport the soil and seed to the new location. Of
course one would leave enough seed in the original flower area to allow it to
recover within a reasonable length of time.

Reports indicate that by 1940, an estimated
500,000 pounds of wildflower seed had been spread along the highways by these
methods. These methods are still in use today, although commercial seed sources
and contractors are rapidly gaining momentum making it economically feasible to
sow the seed by modem methods such as hydro-seeding, broadcast seeding, or
drill seeding. In fact, the Department now purchases and plants approximately
60,000 pounds of wildflower seed annually.

As a result of these wildflower propagation
methods, today's wildflowers in Texas have become an economic factor in the tourist
industry. A third tourist season has been growing for years as people are
coming from all areas of the nation to see the color unfold each spring.

Many towns
and cities have organized celebrations, festivals, and special events with the
spring wildflower season as the main attraction.

April has become the most event-filled month
of the year in Texas with arts and crafts shows, historic home tours, fiestas,
antique car shows, performing art extravaganzas, fun runs, bicycle races,
rodeos, and many other events that coincide with the spring wildflower season.
Some examples include:

Although
there isn't any data or statistics available on the number of people or the
dollars spent, one can certainly say that the crowds grow larger and the events
increase in number and size each year.

As the popularity associated with wildflowers
in Texas has increased over the past few decades, along came the seventies with
Department personnel reductions and a difficult economic grip causing
considerable concern for the future and a need to rethink some approaches to
maintenance. Of course, the landscape architecture staff was concerned
specifically with landscape responsibilities. Of major concern was the rapid
rising cost of mowing operations paralleled with budget cuts. It was obvious
that new and innovative methods were needed. These methods became known as the
vegetation management system which was mentioned earlier.

Plans for the new vegetation management
system were introduced by in-house landscape architects in 1982. The purpose of
this program became three fold; one, to reduce the cost of maintenance and
labor; two, to create a sound native vegetation community on highway
right-of-way that is aesthetically pleasing; and three, to establish an
unannounced right-of-way, one that blends rather than contrasts to its
surroundings.

Being aware of the diverse climate, soil, and
vegetation conditions across the state of Texas, it became apparent that the
new mowing and herbicide policy would require close scrutiny. Therefore, a
vegetation manager was assigned to each of the 24 highway districts. Following
an education process, in January 1983, 24 counties (one county in each
district) were selected to implement the system on a pilot basis. Studies in
each of the 24 counties were conducted to document results, allow the public to
critique samples, and influence skeptics. The big question that was asked over
and over again as the analysis was being conducted was, "WHY ARE YOU
MOWING?”. The same type of question applied to herbicides. The answers
established the criteria for the new vegetation management system that was
mapped and followed for 1983.

Large urban areas, towns, rural areas,
interstate highways, US highways, state highways, farm to market and ranch to
market roads all have different mowing and herbicide requirements. Types of
mowing include: shoulder strip, safety, transition, full width, non-mow, and
cutting heights for various vegetation. Types of herbicide applications
include: edge of pavement treatment, guardrail treatment, curb, delineator and
sign post treatment, and overspray for undesirable plants. The combination of
all these ingredients gave us the new vegetation management system.

The first year's results in the 24 pilot
counties reduced cost on an average of 23.1% in 1983. Total mowing cost in
Texas for 1982 on approximately 1,054,000 acres was over $32 million dollars.
As you can see, the savings can be very significant. The results in appearance
were also very dramatic. Many summer and fall wildflowers appeared that had
been suppressed by continuous mowing.

Desirable native grasses, because they did
not lose their vigor, flourished and competed well with undesirable species.
The right-of-way did not take on an unkempt appearance as some skeptics had
warned. Therefore, public acceptance of this undertaking has been dramatically
positive.

For the success of such a program, it is
essential that native vegetation, including wildflowers, be utilized to the
fullest extent possible. We know that following ecological range management
principals of plant succession, a healthy plant community is aesthetically
pleasing, self-sustaining, and able to resist invasions of undesirable species
such as Johnson grass. It is due to these invasions of undesirables that mowing
and herbicide treatment become imperative.

This program rapidly gained attention at the
national level due to the efforts of Senator Lloyd Bentsen and Representative J.
J. (Jake) Pickle of Texas. In 1984, they co-sponsored legislation calling
for a percentage of the federal highway landscaping cost to be used for the
-planting of wildflowers along the nation's highways. This amendment, which is
known as Operation Wildflower, was passed by Congress and is part of the
Federal Highway Bill.

Senator Bentsen stated that he was inspired
in formulating this measure by the beautification projects of Lady Bird
Johnson; and was further encouraged after reviewing the savings experienced by
the Texas Department of Transportation with the new vegetation management
system experiments of 1983.

Citing Texas as an example, Senator Bentsen
said drivers and their passengers may be, "uplifted by the unique
contribution of wildflowers indigenous to that part of the country through
which they are traveling"; and "the wildflowers also would mean
millions of dollars saved at a time when both state and federal governments are
looking hard for ways to hold down spending.

Senator Bentsen also said he would urge
Congress to follow the lead of the former first lady, "in beautifying our
nation's highways and conserving a valuable national resource, while at the
same time achieving significant financial savings."

Lady Bird Johnson's support and appreciation
for beautification efforts in Texas by highway personnel was demonstrated
through her generous establishment of the Lady Bird Johnson Award and the Lady
Bird Johnson Scenic Preservation Award. The first Lady Bird Johnson Award was
presented in, 1970 to honor the maintenance supervisors at the county level who
had made the most significant contribution to the aesthetic pleasure and
recreation opportunities for the traveling public. The winner of the annual
event receives $1000 and a plaque while the runner-up receives $500 and a
certificate.

The Lady Bird Johnson Scenic Preservation
Award was presented to the Highway District whose employees contributed most
significantly to the natural scenic beauty of Texas highways through the
preservation of native annual and perennial plant species and natural
topography by right-of-way purchase, alignment, design, construction, and
maintenance.This award is memento of
appropriate design.

Each year, the annual awards event has brought the
much appreciated public support and awareness to Texas highway beautification
efforts.

In 1990, after 20 years, Mrs. Johnson retired
from sponsoring these awards.However,
Mr. Robert Lanier, a former Highway Department commissioner, and his wife
offered to continue sponsoring the Awards. The Awards are now known as the
Highway Beautification Award and the Environmental Achievement Award.

Due to economic uncertainty of the 1970s,
many of the old wildflower planting techniques have waned and a new vegetative
management system has been introduced, but the wildflowers of Texas are more
popular than ever, and equally as important.

The philosophy of the program in Texas at the
present time is one whereby the Department not only plants and increases
wildflower areas, but, more importantly, protects and maintains the existing
investment of the past years.